Clement of Alexandria

Clement was a Christian teacher at Alexandria around 190–202, probably born in Athens to pagan parents and widely read in Greek literature and philosophy. His three main works form a sequence: the Exhortation to the Greeks calls pagans to faith, the Instructor teaches the new Christian how to live, and the Miscellanies (Stromata) lead on to deeper Christian knowledge. He argued that Greek philosophy, rightly used, prepared the way for Christ, the Word.

Dates

fl. ca. 190–215 (approximate)

See or city

Alexandria

Region

Egypt

Also known as

Clement; Titus Flavius Clemens; Clemens Alexandrinus

Notes

Eusebius (Church History 5.11; 6.6, 13–14) says that he succeeded Pantaenus as teacher of the catechetical school at Alexandria and that Origen was among his pupils; modern scholars doubt that the school was yet a formal institution. He left Alexandria during the persecution of ca. 202 and is last heard of in Cappadocia, in a letter of Alexander of Jerusalem of ca. 211.

Works

• Exhortation to the GreeksProtrepticus · ca. 190–200 · CPG 1375 (not yet checked)
• The InstructorPaedagogus · ca. 190–200 · CPG 1376 (not yet checked)
• Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved?Quis dives salvetur · ca. 190–210 · CPG 1379 (not yet checked)
• Excerpts from TheodotusExcerpta ex Theodoto · ca. 200 · CPG 1378 (not yet checked)
• Prophetic ExtractsEclogae propheticae · ca. 200 · CPG 1377 (not yet checked)
• MiscellaniesStromata · ca. 198–203 · CPG 1377 (not yet checked)
• FragmentsFragmenta · late 2nd–early 3rd century · CPG number not yet checked
• Greek Fragments on the Passover (Stählin)Fragmenta Graeca de Pascha (Staehlin) · late 2nd-early 3rd century · CPG number not yet checked
• Greek Fragments (Stählin)Fragmenta Graeca (Staehlin) · late 2nd-early 3rd century · CPG number not yet checked
• Adumbrations on the Catholic Epistles (Latin, from Stählin)Adumbrationes in epistolas canonicas · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · CPL 903 (not yet checked)
• Greek Fragments (Stählin 28, 33-58, 68)Fragmenta Graeca (Staehlin 28, 33-58, 68) · late 2nd-early 3rd century · CPG number not yet checked